Month: January 2018

CKA Tournament #1

February 24, 2018

Lake Hyco

Season Five of the Carolina Kayak Anglers tournament trail begins on Lake Hyco, a new lake to the CKA Trail. Located in the northern central Piedmont, Hyco is a large power company reservoir covering 3,500 acres. Its 160 miles of shore line are dotted with docks as well as natural structure, supporting a fishery known for many freshwater species. This will be a Black Bass Tournament but Hyco recently made the news for a most unusual reason: because of its warm, calcium-rich water, NC Wildlife biologists introduced Redfish to the lake in 2016 to control the lake’s invasive Tilapia. Yes, those Redfish we catch in salt water (Redfish side pot, anyone?) (Correction/Update: We have since learned the Drum stocking was postponed, so there will not be a Drum side pot).

This will be the only single-launch event of the 2018 season. All anglers must be present at the meeting in order to fish the event as we will review some important CKA tournament changes. Please review the revised CKA Rules.

January 2018 CKA Newsletter

This post address a number of different additions and changes we will implement with CKA for the 2018 season. Topics include payouts, registration fees, the new Rookie of the Year prize, operational costs and the revised Tournament of Champions format. While each change is unique, they are also interdependent.

First, CKA has adjusted its payout format on several occasions over the years. It has done so in order to account for several factors, including the growing popularity of the series as well as to balance sponsor giveaways with cash prizes. Additionally, CKA always considers feedback from the anglers who participate in the series. We listened last season and came up with a solution that was as close as possible to what anglers requested. In these ways and others, the payout update below is no different from past changes. Here are the major points:

CKA will pay out more places at each 2018 event. Last season we paid out 10% of the field, or 1 in 10 spots. This season we will pay out deeper into the field, or roughly 1 in 8 spots. For example, we average 58 anglers per event 2017. At an average 2017 event, we paid 5 spots. This season, that will be 8 spots at a 58 angler event (58 being our average attendance). Big Bass payouts will continue for each tournament.

In 2018, the 2-day Tournament of Champions will have a new priority as the culminating event of our season. The new payout structure makes this possible. Please stay tuned for a follow up post with all of the details pertaining to this exciting event, but as it stands, we are budgeting to make it a “free” event so that qualifying anglers will only pay a nominal Tourneyx fee.

CKA will continue to donate to H.O.W. but we have restructured contributions to increase tournament payouts.

CKA will deduct a small amount from each registration fee to cover operating costs. As CKA has grown, tournament directors have paid out of pocket for many costs including user Paypal fees, payments to Tourney X, merchandise advances, compensation of judges and equipment purchases. Rather than ask anglers to pay a membership fee, we will deduct

For the first time in our existence, one new CKA angler will be crowned Rookie of the Year. Details to follow but we are excited about seeing new anglers compete for this title.

During this off season, all four tournament directors debated the best way to sustain the series, expand payouts, maintain charity commitments and reward anglers. We consulted anglers and discussed with series sponsors. It was a long process with one goal in mind: to improve the rewards to anglers. This was our solution, and we hope you will find it reasonable. Thank you for your support.